Waterbury evening Democrat., 1887-12-06


 appearance of such a small train running on the time of the morning mail, with no passengers and none of the regular hands. q Here Andrews told 8 most adroit and carefully planned story, with enough of foundation to make 1t probable. He claimed to have been sent by Gen. Beau regard, who was in desperate straits for ammunition, to impress a train, have it loaded with powder and run it through at lightning speed. Had he been pressed more closely, he could have produced passes proving himself worthy of belief. But it was not necessary to go so far. The very appearance of Andrews, tall, commanding and perfectly self possessed, speaking like one who had long been nc- customed to authority, was so much like the ideal southern officer that Russel's credence was won at once. He knew very well that after such battle as Pittsburg Landing it was natural that powder should be scarce, and if it did not come at once, what more natural than to send for it? Seeing the impression that he had made, Andrews, who, of course, did not work at throwing on wood, but left that to his companions, asked if he could not be supplied with schedule of the road, as it might be useful. Russell, in his patriotic fervor, took down and handed out his own schedule, saying that he would "send his shirt to Beauregard' if the latter wanted it! When asked after ward if he did not suspect men who made such an unreasonable demand he answered: ''No; would as soon have suspected Jefferson Davis himself as one who talked with the assurance that An drews did.''
 We were now within seven miles of Kingston, resupplied with wood and water, without having met the slightest hindrance and with full schedule of the road. But at Kingston we had more req son to apprehend danger than anywhere else along the route. A branch road from Rome connected there with the main track, and the morning train from that town would be awaiting our arrival. This, with the local freight which we hoped to meet and the complicated arrangement of the switches, would con- stitute no small obstacle to our onward progress. The real difficulties surpassed expectations. Andrews had made him. self familiar with the minutest working of the road at this point, as also at Dal- ton and Chattanooga, and we would soon be able to see how he would overcome the hindrances in his way
 We reached Kingston little ahead of time. A glance showed us that the local freight had not yet arrived. Without the slightest hesitation Andrews ran few hundred yards past the station, and or dered the switch tender to arrange the switch so as to throw us on the side track; then we backed out on it, stopping on the west side of the station, and almost di- rectly alongside of the Rome passenger train, then lying on it's own track, which joined the main line still further north. This train was expecting the coming of Fn11orsc mail md of fho arrival of our partial train in the place of the one they were expecting was matter of the greatest interest to them. The engineer stepped over 10 daE locomotive and said, with an oath:
 s.How is thisi Whats upp Here's their engine with none of their men on board. Fortunately Andrews was just at hand and promptly replied, 'I have taken this train by government authority to run am- munition through to Gen. Beauregard, who must have it at once.n
 He waved his hand toward the car in 1 which we were shut up Representing the powderD, and they inquired no further in that direction, but simply asked when the | passenger train would be along. Andrews responded indifferently that he could not tell exactly, but supposed it would not be | great while, as they were getting out another train when he left Atlanta. With this cold comfort they were obliged to be contented, and Andrews, leaving the en- zine in care of his three comrades, went into the telegraph office, which was on the side of the depot next us, and asked, l tWhat is the matter with the local freight that it is not here?" He was shown a telegraph dispatch for Fuller, ordering him to wait at this point for it's coming-an indication that 1t was not very far away. This was the only infor- nation vouchsafed to us by the manage I ment of the road during the whole of that eventful dayl -A.
 Andrews returned to his engine, and stood there, or walked about on the end of the platform near by during the tedious moments of waiting. He did not seek to enter into conversation with any one, but quietly answered any questions asked. He appeared abstracted and a little anxious, as was natural for one running an express ammunition train, on which the safety of an army might depend! It was fortunate that his real and assumed characters were so much in harmony. Brown, Knight and Wilson attended to their engine, seeing that all was in good order with a reasonable head of steam, and refrained, as far as they could, from demands in monosyllables. Their position
 during this enforced stop was embarrass- ing, but far less painful than ours in the
 box car. We could hear low murmurs
 outside, we knew that we were at sta-
 tion, and alongside another train, and
 could hear the tread of feet; but we could
 not learn why we did not press on. A
 thousand conjectures will spring up at
 such times; and the possibilities of our
 situation were ample enough for all kinds
 of imagining We had tolerably high
 estimate of our fighting power, and did
 not doubt that we could capture any or
 dinary train, or the usual crowd around
 village station. But to be shut up in the dark, while-for aught we knew-the
 enemy might be concentrating an over
 whelming force against us, was exceed
 ingiy trying. and put the implicit conf.